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Poison Study

By Maria V. Snyder

(55)

| Paperback | 9780778324331

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Book Description

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace- and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothContinue

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace- and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dusté and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear—.

Critics

  • Book Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder Share

    Young adult fiction has experienced quite the renaissance in recent years as it merged with the realms of fantasy and science fiction. Tales of wizards, witches, fairies, vampires, werewolves, banshees and even angels abound and the market has been l ... (read full critics)

    blogcritics published on Mon, 28 Mar 2011

  • The Best Reviews: Maria V. Snyder, Poison Study

    "Magical fantasy" Yelena has been locked in the dungeon under deplorable conditions for almost a year, waiting for her execution. Even though she killed Reyad in self-defense, the Code of Behavior punishes the murderer even though there is cause for ... (read full critics)

    thebestreviews published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

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  • I enjoyed this book a good bit and am looking forward to the next one. It's been a long time since I read it, but isn't this about the same story as Assassin's Apprentice?

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    Deanna Kyre said on Feb 21, 2012 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

  • Fantastic; 4,5/5

    This is a fantastic story; "Poison Study" is the first part of a fantasy trilogy of Maria V. Snyder, a young author who incantated american young adults readers.

    The Snyder is a fabulous writer.

    She will now have published more than seven novels fantasy and therefore it is more experience ... (continue)

    This is a fantastic story; "Poison Study" is the first part of a fantasy trilogy of Maria V. Snyder, a young author who incantated american young adults readers.

    The Snyder is a fabulous writer.

    She will now have published more than seven novels fantasy and therefore it is more experienced, but to the epoch it was to the debuts and for a reader to discover a similar talent it consists in the discovery of a shining and rare pearl among the rubbles of an old decayed house.
    Yelena has conquered me...

    Ixia, a imaginary place of the author Snyder, is formed from eight districts, that you/they are shortened with DM... for it is rigorously more a based country on the respect of the Military Code. He who govern it is the Commander Ambrose the same person that occupies him of the laws and of the wealths of the earth of Ixia.
    Yelena is a girl full of fears, undecided and to the strong meantime of mind. She has borne for years the violences of a young psychopath, as well as child of the man who has brought her friends of the orphanage and she to live one "best life" in his part of territory of old Ixia.
    A night Yelena for desperation kills Reyad.

    The commander has many enemies, the foods are checked in continuation by the official tasters and the last one she had been killed by a poison. To perceive the presence of a poison, Yelena will have to study with Valek the tastes of the foods with and without poison. What does it nail Yelena to the abode of Ambrose? You would like to try the escape... but the same day when Valek had given her the charge and you/he/she had reconciled the accord with a gulp of wine, Yelena had discovered from the bastard to have been poisoned. The dust of Butterfly is a fatal poison, if Yelena stopped assuming the antidote, after sun twenty-four hours it would be dead. This way it is forced to remain to Commander Ambrose's service... and of Valek. But the things won't be easy to be borne: the memoirs of the infancy and the adolescence keep on turning for her head, the horrors that Reyad had made her suffer they still resound in her wounded heart, poisoned. And this is only the beginning of her adventure.

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    Laura Buffa said on Sep 23, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • Enjoyable story

    The monarchy of Ixia has recently been overthrown by Commander Ambrose and is now ruled by the Code of Behaviour. Punishments are absolute; there is no leeway or excuse that will save you if you break the rules, whether you simply didn’t wear the correct uniform or killed someone. So Yelena expects ... (continue)

    The monarchy of Ixia has recently been overthrown by Commander Ambrose and is now ruled by the Code of Behaviour. Punishments are absolute; there is no leeway or excuse that will save you if you break the rules, whether you simply didn’t wear the correct uniform or killed someone. So Yelena expects nothing but a hanging after she killed the son of a high ranking General. But she is offered a slight chance when she is given the choice of either accepting her hanging or becoming the food-taster for the Commander. She accepts the position, and so is poisoned to ensure her loyalty, she’ll need access to the antidote that only Valek, the Commander’s second-in-command can provide.

    This is a very enjoyable, and quick, read. Yelena is believable and her reactions and choices are quite understandable, and even sensible on occasion. Something that we don’t always get in heroes and heroines :) but some of the secondary characters seem a bit sketchy. I suppose that is always the way with minor characters, you get a very brief look at them, but they aren’t vital so why bother creating three dimensional characters. They are all still engaging, don’t get me wrong, it is just that they do feel a little clichéd.

    And Yelena uses a lot of similes in her descriptions. Which in one way helps to see how she sees others, but then again, it is a little distracting.

    All in all however it is a good solid bit of entertainment. Yelena is a very interesting character, and the world Snyder creates is too, although I’m not sure how believable the totalitarian regime really is. Still, when reading the story there is no great need to invest heavily in the world-building, this story is more about the characters.

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    Dee said on Nov 29, 2007 | Add your feedback

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